Faith and Patience
by de cineribus renascitur
Summary: An old friend comes to visit Loki while he's incarcerated. While they talk certain ideologies clash and he finds that she is one of the few that he can't intimidate. She is just as strong and set in her ways as he is... *Set during "The Dark World" although I still haven't seen it. This is based on my knowledge of the trailers and YouTube clips.


**I uploaded this before, but something didn't feel quite right about it at the time... So I took it down and re-worked it a bit... And this is the end result**

**No Copyright Infringement is Intended**

* * *

It was painful for her to see him like this. Laid bare for all to see. Tortured. Broken. Vulnerable. She could feel her heart breaking at the very sight.

An illusion? No, this was no illusion. He had no reason to hide. This was how he truly was.

Gone was the mischievous glint to his eyes that had always kept her guessing. Gone was the smile that could intrigue and repel those who saw it. Gone was any hint of the man she knew.

Loki sat on the floor with his back leaning against the white walls of his cell. His face was pale; washed of any colour. His black hair hung lank and dirty to his shoulders. The garments he wore were plain and simple but, they too, were worn.

His whole appearance was that of someone who was sick or dying.

She stood before him. Watching carefully, ever so carefully. Hoping that he was still in there somewhere.

Thor might have lost hope, but she never would. She would stand by the dark prince even when all others failed.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." She spoke the words quietly; a whisper in the air.

His head snapped up upon hearing her voice. He searched the room for her, but found nothing. His face screwed up in irritation at the realization.

"Must you shield yourself from me?" He questioned, knowing that she was there.

She smiled as she removed the warding spell. "Perhaps not. Though who else would it benefit?" She crossed the small distance between them and knelt beside him. Her gold and blue dress fanned around her like a blanket upon the floor.

He laughed, "No one I suppose." He tilted his head toward her; green eyes boring into her blue ones. "What of the guards? Do they not see you as plain as I do?"

"No," She explained. "They neither see nor hear us talking. They still see you upon the floor. An illusion to hide our conversation."

Loki raised his eyebrows in admiration. "And so the student becomes the teacher." He smirked. "But tell me, Trú. Why have you come?"

"I had to see that you were alive," She explained. "With my own eyes."

"What of my trial? Were you not aware of that?" He countered. "Would that have not given light to my survival?"

Trú hesitated and looked away for a second. She didn't have an answer. Or at least not one he would accept.

Loki laughed again; cold and cruel. Though it sounded stilted and forced from his mouth. Like coughing.

"Again you give evidence to what I have always suspected." He said.

"What is that?"

"Those who have hope are rightly fools."

"Better to be a fool with hope than one without." She turned back toward him; her lengthy brown curls swirling around her shoulders.

The glare he levelled at her was vicious, but she did not cringe. Anger burned brightly behind his eyes like fire. His face was contorted with the rage and pain Trú knew he felt.

"Loki," Her voice was soft as silk. "Why must you continue this way?"

He angled his face away from her as though discomfited by her scrutiny.

"You know why." He growled. "Surely Odin has told the entire realm by now. He made it perfectly clear at my trial."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what is?!"

"This," She gestured to him. "This madness and insanity. It suits you ill."

"But it is me. I am a monster don't forget. Or did you think Frost Giants were harmless?"

His accusation brought memories to her mind; childhood recollections of happier times.

Of a young Loki showing Trú his magic tricks. Loki running away from her as they played in the field. Loki reading to her from a book by the firelight. His triumphant smile when she succeeded in her first attempt with magic.

_"Surely he remembered those times as well?"_

Pulling herself from the past, she focused on the present, "It matters not."

"Of course it does!" His head snapped back toward her. "My whole life has been a lie!"

"Is that what's troubling you?"

"Yes! How would you feel if suddenly everything you knew about your life was proved wrong? What would you do then?"

"I have no answer for that."

Loki smirked, "I thought as much."

She studied him as if for the first time in years. He seemed more drawn and tired than usual. As though a meager surge of effort would overcome him. This was not the man that she remembered. He was not like this before Thor's coronation.

"You are unwell," She observed and pulled a flask from a hidden pocket in her dress. "Take this it will make you feel better."

"What is this?" His eyebrow quirked up, but he took it from her nonetheless. "Why would I need this?"

"I can see and feel that your strength has waned much since I last laid eyes upon you. Or is this merely an illusion?"

Loki shifted uneasily under her inspection. He said nothing and turned his head away from her. She could only see half of the fierce expression on his face.

"Your bought on Midgard seems to have affected you most terribly." She whispered. "You and your brother."

"My brother?" Loki scoffed then sobered. "What news have you of him?"

Trú raised an eyebrow, "Why do you care?"

"I don't," He countered. "This prison of mine leaves me with little knowledge of the outside."

"Well, know this. Your brother is well but he has changed. He is no longer the boy who Odin banished to Midgard." She paused. "It is… unnatural how much he has matured in such a short time."

Loki laughed, "He was still the same fool when last I saw him. Nothing has changed."

Trú tore her gaze from him and looked down at her hands clasped on her lap. She thought for a minute as they lapsed into silence. She knew Loki was watching her again, so she tried her best to keep her expression neutral.

"But what of you? Why have you truly come to visit me? A monster within the royal house of Asgard?" He said intending to insight anger.

"I came because, like you said, I still hold the hope that you are who you once were. Still the man I grew up with. Still the man who I praised for his successes. Still the man that I…" _Love._ But she couldn't bring herself to say the word. There was an ache deep in her chest as though her heart had been pulled through it. And she was left empty inside.

"Deep down you are the same, Loki." Trú continued, her eyes still downcast. "Being of Jotunheim makes no difference. How you were raised should account for something." She looked up from her hands. "The man I know still exists despite how much you claim he was consumed by a monster."

For a second it seemed as though he would shout at her, but he must have thought better of it. A second was all it took for her to see through his façade. Into his "true self" that he strived to keep hidden from everyone, even himself.

And then, it was gone. The mask was back in place. The uncaring man stood before her once again.

But she had seen it. The indecision and guilt he carried shone brightly through his green eyes.

"Enough of this." Loki spat, abruptly. "Your presence here is tiring."

"As you wish my prince."

He flinched, "Don't called me that."

"Why?"

"Because I am no longer a Prince of Asgard."

Trú sighed, "As I have said before, it matters not. To me." She stood up from the floor. "Regardless of what you think of yourself, you were and always shall be a prince. To me."

He stared at her in shocked disbelief.

"Whatever you think of yourself, it does not change my mind. You were… and are my prince."

Sensing that their conversation had reached its end, Trú allowed her magic to fill her. She focused on her study instead of his prison cell. As she felt herself be pulled through the portal, she heard Loki's voice ring out above the rush of magic in her ears.

"How is it that you can be so calm about that? So sure in what you believe?" He questioned, eyes sad.

"Simple," Her voice fading out. "I have faith in you."

* * *

Loki watched with a confused face and sad eyes as Trú disappeared from his prison cell.

He continued to stare at the spot where she'd been long after she was gone. Her last words reverberating through his head. _"I have faith in you."_ Her echoed voice was just as calm as when she spoke.

Bile rose in his throat as he focused on the thought of her. She still believed in him. She still believed him worthy of hope.

It was sickening.

He had wanted to reach out to her. Hold her in his arms like they used to all those years ago. She was his guiding light in the darkness of his being. But something had made him stop.

Fear. Fear of rejection. Fear that despite her outward appearance of acceptance, Trú had truly wanted nothing to do with him. Fear that she was like everyone else in Asgard.

But no, if she didn't care for him anymore she wouldn't have come at all. Not that it truly mattered to Loki.

So much had changed in the last couple years that he wasn't sure who he was anymore. But he was sure of one thing. Trú's faith was placed on someone who was no longer worthy.

Truthfully, he hadn't been worthy of faith, trust or hope for quite a long time. Longer than he could properly remember. And that caused him misery.

He saw himself for what he truly was. A monster.

Trú looked upon Loki with the naive eyes of a child. A child who saw the world as beautiful instead of what it really was. The world was full of horrors that she chose to be blind to.

He shifted his gaze from the emptiness to the flask still clutched in his hand. This bottle, filled with an unknown liquid, which was testament to how strong their friendship was. She cared deeply for him despite all that he had done. Or all that he deserved.

He marvelled at the firm grasp he held it with, as though afraid it too would slip through his fingers.

Suddenly, he was filled with a manic desire to throw it away. To get it as far from himself as he could. Watch it shatter into a thousand pieces. Its contents spilling over the floor, walls; any surface it touched.

Oh what a beautiful mess it would make. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. His heart was conflicted.

Instead, he relinquished his hold and pushed it slightly away from himself and stared into the emptiness again.

Memories flooded Loki's mind as he wallowed in his grief. Trú, Frigga... Even Thor. Their faces floated behind his eyes. They were all lost to him. Never to be seen again.

Not even in death.

Fear, anger, desperation - powerful emotions - welled up inside him and threatened to break him. He felt his mouth open and his body move as if by their own accord. And before he fully registered what was happening, a prolonged and piercing scream of anguish escaped him.

And then he crumpled in on himself as though all his energy had leaked out through that scream.

It lasted merely a few seconds, but it was still powerful. Loki was such a private person, he rarely let anyone into his personal world. And he rarely expressed his emotions except in mischief or revenge.

That scream was as unsettling as it was reassuring.

He wasn't sure what had caused him to do it. He couldn't even remember a time when he had ever done something similar. Not even as a child.

The scream wasn't remotely releasing and that made him feel worse.

It did, however, ground him to reality. _Had the guards heard that?_ No, his wards were still intact. Their lack of reaction or concerned looks at their "prince" was enough to prove that. Even in a weakened state, his illusions remained strong.

That small piece of information brought him a resurgence of pride. He was strong. He wouldn't break no matter what Odin threw at him.

He tried to get up from the floor, but found his legs too shaky to hold his weight. The adrenaline pumping through his body made it hard to control his limbs. So, he stayed on the floor with his back against the white wall and stared into the wreckage of his cell.

After a while, he found his hand inching toward the flask. His finger touched the cool glass and wrapped around the small bottle. It seemed oddly heavy in his grasp, as though made of lead.

He slowly brought it before his face to inspect it. The glass was a deep navy colour and nearly opaque. Tendrils of gold snaked their way down the neck and sides of the bottle. A sapphire stopper kept the contents from spilling from the mouth of the bottle.

Loki stared at it; deep in thought.

Trú had said it was a potion to make him feel better. But what did that mean? Was it a healing potion? Or poison? _No, surely not that_. She would never want to kill him, even though he quite deserved it.

He shook the flask in his hand. The resounding swish of the liquid inside comforted him. He did not know why.

Before he could stop himself, Loki had pulled out the stopper and placed the bottle at his lips. With one swift movement, he gulped down the entire contents. Thankfully, there was only one mouthful or he might have choked.

The liquid surged through him; burning him as though his very veins were on fire. Every bit of his skin felt warm; the cold chased from his bones. He took a sharp breath as the shock settled in. He hadn't expected the potion to be this potent.

But deep down he knew he shouldn't have been surprised.

Even as a child, Trú was remarkably gifted with magic. Maybe even more than himself. And she succeeded with potions where Loki often struggled.

When he felt the fire within him settle, he replaced the stopper on the bottle and set it down. He didn't throw it away. He still couldn't bring himself to do that.

The potion had indeed done what Trú said. It made him feel better than he had earlier. He no longer felt the numbness that was creeping in since his mother's death. He was close to feeling like himself again.

He would survive this imprisonment. At least until he could find a way of escape. And woe to anyone who got in his way.

Trú had faith - he had patience.

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**There you go! This story is finished... again... And only 12 days before my birthday too! I thought it would take longer before I got it the way I like it (and have nothing to change) Though I'm probably jinxing myself now**

**But anyway, see you guys next time!**


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